Cambodian Tax Chief Lied to Australian Corporate Regulator

The head of Cambodia’s tax department, Kong Vibol, could face jail for lying to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) if sanctioned, the corporate regulator has told VOA.

A number of questions were raised about the shadowy business dealings of Kong and other powerful, politically connected Cambodians in an investigation aired by Al Jazeera’s program 101 East last week.

Kong, who as director-general of the General Department of Taxation clearly lives in Cambodia, falsely claimed to reside at a house in Melbourne in ASIC records seen by VOA.

ASIC Communication Manager Angela Friend told VOA in an emailed response that it was an offense to provide false information to the Australian corporate watchdog under the Corporations Act.

“A breach of this provision is punishable with 100 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years, or both. The current value of a penalty unit is $210,” she wrote in the response.

She confirmed that under the same law the director of such a company must ordinarily reside in Australia but said ASIC “does not generally comment on whether it is investigating a particular matter”.

VOA has tried to contact Kong for days but has not been able to reach him. Kong falsely claimed in records for his company Panhariddh Pty. Ltd. to live in Noble Park, a suburb in Melbourne.

Dy Vichea, the deputy National Police chief and son-in-law of Prime Minister Hun Sen who Al Jazeera also alleged had lied about his residential address to ASIC, also could not be reached.

When grilled by Al Jazeera in an on camera interview about why he appeared to have lied to ASIC, Kong first claimed the business predated his working life in Cambodia.

After he was flatly told that was not true Kong then said he had transferred ownership of the company before finally declaring the firm had closed down “a long time ago”.

“I got nothing to do in Australia,” he said.

Kong was also grilled about a major petroleum company owned by his family that Cambodian government records showed failed to register for tax until 2017.

Repeatedly he asked how such records had been obtained and claimed both the ASIC register and the official Cambodian company registry were wrong, including the listed address for Bright Victory Mekong Petroleum Import Export Co., Ltd., which is Kong’s own house.

“We sold a long time ago. I think maybe they use my address before but they never been and I don’t know when they sold,” he told Al Jazeera.

Kong, the program said, owned millions of dollars worth of property in Australia as well and multiple businesses, despite earning a salary of less than $1,000 a month.

He also set up investment companies and trusts with an Australian couple who were soon after convicted of defrauding the Australian Tax Office of more than $1.8 million, the program said.

An affidavit believed to have been signed at the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh revealed that at one point he transfered $1.2 million to one of the same couple’s trusts.

The program also featured a former Cambodian government advisor, Kalyan Ky, who said she had warned the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh and the government that senior Cambodian officials were laundering proceeds of criminal activity through Australia.

A spokesperson for Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who declined to be named said in an emailed response that the department referred any information about potential criminal conduct under Australian laws to relevant law enforcement bodies.

“We strongly refute any claims that the Australian Government enables or condones illicit activities, or does not take allegations of corruption and other criminal conduct seriously,” the spokesperson said.

A man answering the phone of Cambodia’s Anti-Corruption Unit chief Om Yentieng said the number was incorrect.

The office ofKelly O’Dwyer,Australia’s Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, and the Australian Federal Police did not respond to VOA inquiries.

Preap Kol, Executive Director of Transparency International Cambodia, told VOA in an email that no one in Cambodia would dare question any wrongdoing by such high level officials

“Integrity among many public officials here in Cambodia are questionable. So they get used to being perceived that way. People here are powerless, so they would not even dare to ask such a question,” he said.

Kong’s claim that the Cambodia’s business registry was wrong was “hard to believe” he said, stressing though that he did not know the reality behind that situation.

“Cambodia does not have strict laws or regulations on conflict of interest like in many other countries. So it this is quite a normal practice here,” he said, adding it was inconceivable such practices would change under the current administration.

Hong Lim, a Cambodian/Australian MP in the parliament of the Australian State of Victoria, said some individuals exposed in the Al Jazeera report had spread fear of repercussions in Melbourne communities.

“These are the types of characters we are dealing with now in Melbourne,” he said.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Declassified CIA documents

Sam Rainsy

Note from Hengsoy Jr.

We, Heng Soy's family and friends, are as dedicated as ever to continue his legacy of publishing sensitive information about Cambodia.

Ethnocide: destruction of a culture

For 10 years, the Vietnamese tried to apply to Cambodia a policy of ethnocide, insidiously carried out in the educational domain.... [T]he curriculum was based on that of Vietnam.... "Even schools' names come from Vietnamese"

Disputed Cambodia’s territorial waters

Facing Genocide

Award-winning film is a search into the personality of Khieu Samphan, meetings with him one and half year before his arrest (Khmer / French with English subtitles)

HRW report - DRAGGED AND BEATEN

The Cambodian Government’s Role in the October 2015 Attack on Opposition Politicians

Sam Rainsy's CV ប្រវត្តិរូប លោក សម រង្សីុ

(ខេមរភាសា / English) Leadership Cambodians desire, deserve

30 Years of Hun Sen

75-page report by Human Rights Watch, Jan. 2015

Reminder from Heng Soy (founder of KI Media)

Truth2Power (T2P) Media [formerly KI Media] loves to hear from you, and we're giving you a bullhorn. We just ask that you keep things civil. Please leave out personal attacks, do not use profanity, ethnic or racial slurs, or take shots at anyone's sexual orientation or religion. We thank you for your cooperation!

Concerts for the People of Kampuchea

On Dec 26-29, 1979 [by now, Cambodia under one full year of Vietnamese occupation], the musician Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, organized a four-night benefit

Vietnam Invasion of Kampuchea (2 of 5, Film in English)

'The Vietnamese boasted, "The situation in Kampuchea is irreversible." ...the Vietnamese had installed a government of their own choosing. The figurehead were former Khmer Rouge... The Pol Pot regime had ended. But the worse was still not over... hundreds of thousands died during two long years of famine.'

Welcome to The Harvard Classics

Speak Truth to Power

A WORLD SAFE FOR DIVERSITY

Punctuation is Key to Development

Compare these two versions of Khmer article: Original vs. With Punctuation

Fair Trial Rights Handbook

In both Khmer and English

How chronic stress affects your brain

TED-Ed: How chronic stress can affect the brain's size, structure, and how it functions

Trauma Handbook

In both Khmer and English

Time for Truth

Os Guinness at Stanford Univ.

Is Tolerance Intolerant?

Pursuing the Climate of Acceptance and Inclusion - Ravi Zacharias at UCLA

Gene Sharp

From Dictatorship to Democracy, in English, other languages, free downloading

Gene Sharp

From Dictatorship to Democracy (Khmer translated by Mr. Ung Bun Ang)

UDHR

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, punctuated Khmer

Proverbs

Punctuated Khmer

Elizabeth Becker

Luke

ដំណឹងល្អ រៀបរៀង ដោយលូកា (Punctuated Khmer)

Sam Rainsy

My Struggle for Democracy in Cambodia

MIRACLES: Is Belief in Supernatural Irrational?

Standing ovation for this witty, illuminating, educational talk of Oxford prof. John Lennox at Harvard Univ.

Theary Seng

Rithy Panh

Pin Yathay

Nic Dunlop

How To Make Your Kids Smarter

10 Steps Backed By Science

KramaNation

KI Media family in KramaNation

Published articles about Vietnamese Military Occupation

Genocide under the cover of Genocide, 25 Dec. 1978 - 23 Oct. 1991

ប្រវត្តិសាស្ត្រ ប្រទេស កម្ពុជា | History Series

សម រង្ស៊ី / Sam Rainsy: ខ្ញុំ សូម លាតត្រដាង ប្រវត្តិសាស្ត្រ ប្រទេស កម្ពុជា មួយរយៈកាល (ពីឆ្នាំ ១៩៥១ ដល់ឆ្នាំ ១៩៩១) ដែលគេ បិទបាំង មិនឲ្យ ប្រជារាស្ត្រខ្មែរ បានដឹង។ I would like to expose a period of Cambodia's history (from 1951 to 1991) that has been hidden to the Cambodian people.

REPEAT OFFENDER: Vietnam's Persistent Trade in Illegal Timber

Report of London-based Environmental Investigation Agency, May 2017

GRAND CONCESSIONS

Vietnamese People's Army has quietly assumed control of nearly 40,000 hectares of land in Ratanakkiri (Cambodia Daily, 24 Dec. 2015)

Global Witness: Rubber Barons

How Vietnamese companies and international financiers are driving a land grabbing crisis in Cambodia and Laos

K-5 GENOCIDE, 1981-88

The Vietnamization of Cambodia: A New Model of Colonialism

A series of exposes that Indochina Report has published on the Vietnamization process. Others in the series: "The Military Occupation of Kampuchea" (1985), "Vietnamized Cambodia: A Silent Ethnocide" by Marie Alexandrine Martin (1986). and "Daily Life in Cambodia: A Personal Account" by Dr. Esmeralda Luciolli (1988)

Vietnamization: Airlines, Airspace

Cambodia Angkor Air, "golden route" over Cambodian airspace

Cambodia's Family Tree

Global Witness Report: Cambodia is run by a kleptocratic elite that generates much of its wealth via the seizure of public assets, particularly natural resources.

The Economist explains economics

The Economist explains” 6 seminal economics ideas.

Who Killed Chea Vichea?

The Peabody Award-winning film in both KHMER and English. More at www.whokilledcheavichea.com.

I Am Chut Wutty

Banned in Cambodia, documentary film about murdered environmental activist by govt security